Natural rubber is made up from multiple units of isoprene, which is a monomer unit of natural rubber. Natural Rubber has a numbers of desirable properties such as elasticity, toughness, impermeability, adhesiveness, and electrical resistance that make it highly valuable asset in number of industries, especially in the chemical industry, as in the manufacture of adhesives, coatings, fibers, mouldings, insulators, gloves and many more.
Meanwhile, synthetic rubber is regarded as a better replacement in place of natural rubber, as it has a better aging period, better resistance towards chemicals, oil, wider range temperature and weathering properties. The prior art process for glove production utilizes conventional sulphur vulcanization system that uses accelerators, such as thiurams, thiazoles and carbamates, sulphur and/or common oxides, such as zinc oxide.
Further, the presence of accelerators, zinc oxide and sulphur was necessary in and the manufacture of rubber products, as the accelerators, zinc oxide and sulphur act as a crosslinking agent. However, it is to be noted that the protein from natural rubber induces type I immediate hypersensitivity (allergy). Meanwhile, type IV delayed hypersensitivity (allergy) is caused by the use of accelerators such as thiurams, thiazoles and carbamates in both natural rubber and synthetic rubber.
In order to overcome both the type I allergy and type IV hypersensitivity of contact dermatitis allergy, accelerator-free synthetic rubber gloves are needed.
U.S. patent No. 20120246799 A1 discloses an elastomeric rubber thin film without using vulcanizing accelerators and sulphur. The elastomeric rubber thin film comprises:                a) a carboxylated nitrile latex;        b) a divalent oxide;        c) a pH adjuster to obtain a pH of 9 to 10; andwhile controlling concentration of the total solid content (TSC) in the elastomeric rubber thin film to a range in between 18% to 30% by w/w, while water is used for the TSC variation.        
Further, it is to be noted that the elastomeric rubber thin film in prior art however uses zinc oxide in its composition, which is a common oxide that has a lower ionic strength. This result in weaker crosslinking formation that directly affects the properties of product formed. Still further, although the elastomeric rubber thin film prepared via the above mentioned formulation is able to overcome the type I and type IV allergies, but the mechanical properties are only comparable to elastomeric rubber films produced using conventional sulphur vulcanization system, with no improvement in terms of mechanical properties.
As such, there is a need to produce a glove using an effective latex formulation and method that will enhance the mechanical properties as well as prevent type I immediate hypersensitivity (allergy) and type IV delayed hypersensitivity (allergy).